‘Bark, Park and Wine III' benefits UC parks

By Michele Gwynn

Published 7:27 pm, Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Universal City Parks Partners committee members are ready to show off for the estimated 300-350 ticket holders who show up at Friday's third annual Bark, Park & Wine at the Olympia Hills Event Center in Universal City.

The annual gala, originally designed as a fund-raising event for the city's dog park, now benefits all of the city's park lands.

“We're a non-profit organization that has been around since 1988,” said Lori Putt, Parks Partners president. “The whole purpose is to raise money, raise public awareness, and raise funding that can be used for our city parks.”

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The first two years of Bark, Park and Wine provided the funding to build the dog park. Since construction began, Parks Partners has donated funds to maintain the property and pay for continued work. Recently, the park was improved with the addition of lighting, extending park hours to 11 p.m. — giving dog owners the ability to walk their dogs in an enclosed, safe area after work hours.

“Every year, Parks Partners donates $2,000 that goes directly into their funds that will help with the maintenance, buy the ‘... waste disposal bags,” she said. Because of the Parks Partners and its fund-raising ability, the dog park is self-maintained and not a burden on the city in any way.

“We need more lights at the (dog park) entrance, and it wouldn't hurt to have a couple more lights” Putt said. “The dog park is almost completed. Since we took over, we promised the city that, as long as we had a means, we would maintain and improve the dog park.”

With work at the dog park nearly complete, former members of the dog park committee joined and revitalized the city's Park Partners committee.

Money raised by the committee is made available to the city through a budgeting request system that involved the parks and recreation commission, Public Works Director Randy Luensmann and Parks Partners, who review the requests and vote on funding to develop, maintain, and improve the city's parks.

There will be samples of food from local eateries including Encanto Mexican Grill, Schertz Bakery and Four Kings, as well as a variety of wines and liquors from Winery on the Gruene, Rebecca Creek Whiskey, Enchanted Rock Vodka, Arc's Wine Tours and more. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available for those who do not partake.

“We're hoping to get about three hundred UC residents to come out and support the parks” said Cheryl Maxwell, Parks Partners vice president. “We have raffles, silent auctions, gaming tables; we're going to have poker, and there will be strolling musicians and a DJ.”

Tickets for the event can be purchased at Tazas Coffee House, French Quality Cleaners, and the Universal City Animal Care and Control facility. Tickets are $35 per individual or $315 for a reserved table of eight. For details, visit their Facebook page at Bark, Park & Wine 2012.